The window treatment industry has changed over the years. Initially windows were covered with various types of materials to include cloth, wood, metal, and the like. If the viewing or sunlight through the window was desired, the window covering would normally be removed or drawn to a position that would unobstruct the view or sunlight. As the window treatment industry matured and consumer demand for convenience increased, various types of cords, curtain ties, and control mechanisms were developed to retain the window treatments in various positions to allow viewing or sunlight through the window.
A Venetian blind window treatment was developed as an alternative to simple material covering of a window. Generally, the Venetian blind comprises a head rail or housing, a bottom rail or housing, and a plurality of horizontal or vertical slats disposed intermediate the head rail and bottom rail. A pair of continuous ladder tape members or flexible slat support members would hold the slats in place. The ladder tape members, generally, are connected to the head rail and bottom rail. Each step of the ladder tape members contains one slat. A tilt control mechanism generally is provided and is connected to the ladder tape members. The tilt control mechanism allows a user to tilt the slats to a desired position. The Venetian blind window treatment may also have a lift control mechanism. The lift control mechanism has a lifting cord that traverses the head and rail, slats, and connects to the bottom rail. The lifting cord allows the user to lift or retract the Venetian blind to a desired position. All Venetian blind window treatments, prior to the present invention, provided the user with limited control of the amount of viewing area or sunlight associated with a given window. The user's choices were to positionally raise, lower, or tilt the Venetian blind. If the user's desire was to allow maximum sunlight to penetrate the window, he would have to physically remove the window treatment Venetian blind from the window fame. The user might also desire to remove a particular section of the Venetian blind and substitute a different section for special events like birthdays, Christmas, or Hanukkah. Once a Venetian blind window treatment is installed, it is impractical or difficult to remove or substitute an alternate blind for the installed blind.
Attempts, prior to the present invention, have been made to satisfy the user's desire to have easy to install, sectional, and replaceable Venetian blind window treatments. These attempts altered only the basic configuration of the above discussed Venetian blind window treatment. One such attempt provided the user with dual tilt control mechanism. The dual tilt control mechanism was generally mounted in the head rail and would control the tilt of the upper and lower slat sections of the Venetian blind window treatment. Another attempt added a second head rail spaced from the first head rail. The first and second head rails had there own separate tilt and lift control mechanism wherein the user could lift and tilt the slats associated with either the first or second tilt and control mechanism. Still further attempts were made to satisfy the user's desire for easy to install, sectional, and replaceable Venetian blind window treatments by substituting different configurations of slats made from balloon or bellows type material. These types of slats generally fan fold together producing an accordion effect clustered at either the head rail or the bottom rail. All of these attempts focused on manipulating the position of the slats relative to the fixture or head rail to which they were attached. Repositioning slats relative to the head rail does not remove slats from the Venetian blind window treatment. Adding separate controls for various sections of slats still does not aid in removing sections or replacing selected sections of the Venetian blind window treatment.
It would be desirable to have a window treatment that was easy to install, sectional, and replaceable. The window treatment would have a head rail, a bottom rail, and multiple detachable bridge rails. The detachable bridge rails would be intermediately disposed to the head and bottom rail. The detachable bridge rails would provide the needed detachability to remove or replace sections of the window treatment thereby satisfying the long felt but unresolved need of the user for easily installed, sectional, and replaceable Venetian blind window treatments.